Air conveyor systems for transporting articles are well known in the art. Such systems are also well known to include combiners capable of directing a flow of articles en masse into a plurality of branch lanes. It is also known to gradually narrow article flow to funnel articles into a single file format. See, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,999,806; 4,347,022; 4,721,419; 4,730,955; and 4,730,956.
Such prior art air conveyor systems typically use conventional guide rails or sidewalls to confine article flow to a desired conveyor pathway. It is also known to form different flow channels or configurations by diverting article flow around vertical barriers. Such guide rails or barrier walls usually have a vertical height that is above the midpoint of the height of articles being conveyed to present a high barrier profile to thereby substantially insure that no errant article will leave the conveyor in an uncontrolled manner.
However, anomalous articles such as damaged or bent articles or articles that get tipped over on their sides may jam in or against guide rails and barriers, thereby disrupting operation and perhaps necessitating shutdown for clearing.